Play It By Ear - A McRoll in the REAL World story
by Mari217
Summary: Steve and Catherine's past, present and future plans are never frivolous, even when the checking account is full on payday.


_Sammy & Ilna, so excited and happy, every day, to be here with such amazing friends and writers. xo_

 _RealMcRollers each and every one of you is awesome. Your feedback and love make the journey that much more special_

* * *

 **Play it by Ear**

 **April 2000**

Steve stowed his B-4 duffel under the seat and smiled. Flopping down next to him, Freddie kicked his own duffel further under his seat with his heels.

"Last two seats on the hop." The blonde Ensign shook his head. "I told Kelly this was a shitty week for me to fly in because of end of semester liberty, but of course she already took off work and couldn't swap it out. Somehow that ended up with her pissed at me." He snorted a laugh.

Steve grinned. "Of course it did." He was well versed in the saga that was his roommate's relationship.

A young Marine who'd bounded onto the plane just before them nodded in greeting. "Going to see your girl, too?"

Freddie's nod and easy smile had the first lieutenant talking as he unwrapped a power bar. When both men waved him off, he took a bite. "I ain't been stateside for five months. My girlfriend, her name's Ashlyn, is meeting me at PAX then we're driving to Ocean City for three weeks. I never seen the ocean before I deployed, and Ashlyn ain't seen it yet." He glanced at his pocket. "She's gonna love it." His smile was infectious and Steve gave him a small grin. "I'm Cal," the Marine said with an offered hand. "Y'all' got girls in Maryland?" He pronounced it 'Mare-a-lan.'

"Yeah. Mine lives in Eastport, about three clicks out of Annapolis. "His …" Freddie held up a hand to stop Steve's automatic 'friend' statement without even glancing his way, "is a first year at the Academy."

"Catherine and I are …" Steve began but sighed and stopped at Cal's nod.

"My mom's named Catherine. She and Pop are driving up our second week for a few days." Another glance at his pocket. "I got her a starfish necklace in Rota. My mom. She and Pop went to the beach on their honeymoon, she's always talking about seein' the starfish."

"I'm betting you got something _extra_ for Ashlyn. What 'cha think?" He elbowed Steve.

"Congratulations," Steve said with a small smile.

"Thanks … I …" He looked between them. "How'd y'all guess?"

When Freddie pointed at Cal's pocket and said, "You keep checking to see if it's still there."

The first lieutenant broke into a huge smile.

"And you look at your pocket every time you mention your girlfriend," Steve added.

"Pretty obvious you got something important in that pocket. And I'm not even N.I. like Steve, here." Freddie winked.

Cal nodded with a little sheepish shrug. "I bought a ring in Tokyo. I'm giving it to her tonight. We're doing a dinner in some fancy restaurant. I told her to pick whichever one she liked."

"Yeah, I'm taking Kelly to some French place in Georgetown." He rubbed his fingers together in the sign for money with a grimace as another sailor a few seats away laughed and congratulated Cal. He was wearing a wedding ring and looked about 35.

"Us old married people save our pay. I remember those days of fancy restaurants, boys. The eagle shits today," he referenced payday in military slang dating back to World War II, "so everyone's a big spender."

A Marine captain in his forties barked a laugh. "I remember that, too. Now I'm stuffing it away for colleges. How old are you guys, twenty one?" he asked.

"Twenty two," Freddie answered, jerking a thumb towards Steve. "And twenty three."

"Jeez," the captain scrubbed a hand over his face in mock distress. "I got boots older than you." His eyes fell on Cal. "Twenty … five?"

"Yes, sir! Last week."

"Happy birthday, Lieutenant. You deserve a night out with your soon to be fiancée." He settled in his seat as much as the uncomfortable accommodations would allow. "I'm taking the whole crew, including my in-laws to the beach at 0800. I'll live vicariously."

"How 'bout you?" Cal asked Steve. He was bubbling with excitement and his grin was contagious. "You goin' anywhere cool?"

"Catherine and I … we're not …" He ran a hand behind his neck with a sigh and a glance at a smirking Freddie. "No, nothing fancy. We're gonna play it by ear. I asked but she said she just um, wanted to hang out and relax."

The Marine captain chuckled. " _That is_ special, kid. A girl who's navy and doesn't care what she does on her liberty as long as you're there." He winked and Steve reddened slightly - much to Freddie's obvious delight - as the captain continued, "Don't let that one get away, ya hear?

"Yes, sir," Steve answered, but his mind was playing over exactly how Catherine had sounded when he'd called to tell her he'd gotten leave to coincide with her brief end of semester liberty. He could hear her beautiful smile in her voice over the phone as she said, " _I was going to stay with my aunt and uncle but I'll call and book a room as soon as we hang up_. _Maybe the Holiday Inn has a special for break. Unless you wanna stay somewhere else …"_

"Anywhere you want is good," he'd offered honestly. He didn't care if he slept on a pile of rocks as long as he could be with Catherine. They'd have from his arrival on Tuesday night through Sunday when she had to report in at 2000 hours. "If you want to eat somewhere uh, nice, or go somewhere, we can." They'd get paid right before liberty, he rarely spent anything on himself, and it wasn't like he had anyone back home to send souvenirs from his duty station to. Other than a Christmas gift for the Mills, Catherine's suggestion he remembered with a smile, the only person he ever bought anything for was her. He actually had an idea for her commissioning gift that he hoped she liked. He'd have to make what he was sure would be an awkward phone call to arrange it but it was something he'd thought long and hard about and he'd decided it was something he really wanted to do.

The captain's voice pulled him from the memory. "Hang on to that girl and in a couple years you'll be saving for your own kid's future on payday."

As the two older servicemen grinned at him, Steve glanced down, a small smile twitching up the corner of his mouth.

* * *

 **Present day**

Steve sat across from Catherine in the cafeteria and took a bite of his sandwich as she spoke while helping herself to a steak fry from his dish.

" … it's resolved, thank God, I'd hate to think of people having to wait."

"What happened? I got the state issued ' _we're working to resolve a delay_ ' email about 9:45."

"Computer glitch, payroll was inadvertently frozen. I mean, you and I can wait a few days, but so many people can't. I'm happy we didn't have to issue a delay until later in the week announcement."

"You fixed it," he stated, a knowing grin forming on his lips.

She shrugged.

"You _personally_ fixed it."

"I happened to be between meetings so I went by to get an update. I asked the tech team if I could take a look. Luckily I was able to track down the problem."

"And no evidence of hacking?" He was on alert.

"None." She shook her head. "They're running the data again to be sure, but the tech supervisor and I agree it was a software issue."

"You're amazing, Rollins, anyone tell you that today?"

"Aww. Thank you."

"So since it is actually payday after all, you wanna go somewhere fancy to eat tonight or just _play it by ear_ again?" He smiled.

Getting the reference she grinned. "I'd rather go home and eat on the beach. Or better yet, in bed. And for the record, I don't believe I said, 'play it by ear' back then."

Steve's brow lifted.

"When you asked if I wanted to go anywhere particular to eat on liberty, which I'm sure was prompted by Freddie taking Kelly to where was it ... Georgetown?" She chuckled. "What I said, was _'room service.'_ "

"Oh, I remember that very clearly. Always to the point, Lieutenant." He leaned across the table and kissed her cheek.

" 'Play it by ear' was _your_ description of the rest of that liberty. _I_ was just being expedient. Besides," she nodded and placed her hand over his where it rested on the table, squeezing his fingers, "I had zero plans of leaving the room that night. Even though we did need to eat …" Catherine grinned saucily. "To keep our strength up."

"Steak and mashed potatoes." Steve recalled what they'd ordered from room service that first day of leave and eaten sitting in bed. They hadn't even moved to the small table and chairs. He'd pulled on pants, signed for the food and carried the tray to the bed while she'd ducked into the bathroom to avoid having to dress.

"And we didn't blow our whole pay on one meal," Catherine pointed out with a smile.

"We still don't," he added. "Oh, that reminds me, I'm putting a few hundred extra in Niblet's account this month."

"Excellent." She smiled. He'd been diligent about a bank account for their daughter practically from the minute they knew she was coming. "Ya know, I think steak and mashed potatoes sound great." She crumbled her napkin and placed it on her empty plate.

"Now?" She could see Steve was ready to sprint to a restaurant and get her takeout.

"For dinner." She rubbed his arm. "But thanks." She reached into her purse and grabbed a ziplock bag. "Dessert. Want one?"

He snorted a laugh. "I'm good, that's all you, Lieutenant."

Her smile turned even brighter. "Hmm," she said as she bit into a bright yellow Peep. "You sure?"

"I'm definitely sure." He addressed her belly, "Enjoy that now, Niblet, because once you're here it's gonna be way too much sugar for you."

Catherine patted her tummy. "Daddy's right, but a couple for today's treat is perfectly fine." She checked her watch. "Ohh mommy has a meeting in fifteen, we have to go." She leaned across the table as far as her tummy would allow and kissed Steve's cheek with a chuckle. "I'll be home by six."

"I'll start dinner. I may get home first if nothing comes in."

"Room service," she said as she stood. "Still beats any restaurant, even if the room is our bedroom."

/

As he exited the building to take the short walk back to HQ he was a few steps behind two young HPD officers, Iku Kashiwagi and Jamel Widner. They slowed to greet him as Jamel checked his phone and huffed a relieved sigh. "Deposit went through - they must've fixed whatever was holding up payroll."

Iku glanced at Steve. "I heard from Ed Luokio in tech that Lieutenant Rollins figured it out. Ed said she went in, sat at the computer and not even an hour later it was resolved."

Steve nodded proudly. "She was happy no one had to wait for their check. And I have no doubt she solved it faster than a tech team."

"She's scary smart, sir. She gave a talk at the Academy two years ago on cybercrime and half my class wanted to test into the program." Iku smiled. "So thanks to the lieutenant it's actually payday, and I can take my girlfriend to Azure for dinner."

"I'm going to M with Eagan and Akiyama," Jamel said. "Maybe I'll see that girl I told you about from last time…"

"The bartender?" His friend shook his head. "Didn't she shoot you down?"

"Not exactly, she said she didn't date customers she'd only seen once, even if I was a cop, so now she'll have seen me twice …"

Shaking his head at his friend, Iku just smiled.

"Persistence is good," Jamel said. He asked Steve, "Do you and the lieutenant plan anything special on paydays, Commander?"

"We usually …" He couldn't hold back a tiny grin. "Play it by ear."

The younger men nodded, both contemplating what they'd splurge on if they earned a commander or lieutenant's salary. They bid Steve goodbye as they peeled off the path towards their assigned duties.

Seconds later a text from Catherine had him checking his phone.

 _The "room service" menu for tonight needs to includes dessert._

 _What are you thinking?_ He texted back.

 _The fresh strawberries I got at the farmers' market this morning to counteract the Peeps._

 _Sounds good. With whipped cream?_ He knew she'd want a little extra sweetness with the fruit.

Her response made his grin grow into a full blown smile.

 _We can play it by ear, as long as it involves chocolate sauce._

 _# End. Thanks for reading._

* * *

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